Make Me Beautiful
by Teobi
Summary: Mary Ann just wants Gilligan to notice her. But will he? MAG fluff with a bit of Pinger. (Happy Birthday LunaGirl180!)


"Ginger! _Make me beautiful_!"

The desperation in Mary Ann's voice, along with the slamming open of the hut door, was enough to make Ginger drop her hairbrush and turn around so fast that one of her carefully pinned curls came loose and tumbled down over her shoulder.

"What's the matter, honey?" she asked, genuinely concerned.

Mary Ann let out an exasperated sigh and trudged over to where Ginger was sitting at the vanity.

"It's Gilligan," she lamented. "I just can't get him to notice me." She picked up Ginger's hairbrush and absently pulled a few long, golden-red strands from between the bristles. "Why can't I have beautiful red hair like yours?" she asked, holding one of the strands up to the light.

Ginger smiled at her own reflection in the mirror. "Do you think having red hair would make a difference?"

Mary Ann twirled the shimmering strand between her fingers. "It would make a difference to me," she sighed.

Ginger eyes flashed in disagreement. "Mary Ann, your brown hair goes perfectly with your skin tone and eye colour. You'd just look silly as a redhead."

Mary Ann's face fell momentarily, and then she frowned and snapped the strand in two. "Thanks, Ginger! Thanks for telling me I'd look silly! Why don't you and Gilligan just get together and gang up on me?" She spun on her heels in the sand and stomped over to her cot, flinging herself onto it like a woman whose world was ending.

Ginger waited.

"Nothing I say is going to make it better, is it?" she said, at length.

"No," came Mary Ann's muffled voice from the middle of her pillow.

"All right then," Ginger smiled. "Come over here and let's make you beautiful."

...

The Professor and Gilligan were at the table sorting through some boxes of supplies when Mary Ann came tottering out of the Girls' hut on a pair of white high heels that were clearly giving her trouble. Neither of the two men said a word as the farm girl negotiated her way carefully across the sand as though she were balancing on a circus tightrope, her face etched with concentration.

The Professor's sky blue eyes took in the sequinned evening gown she was wearing- one of Ginger's that had obviously been altered on the bamboo sewing machine. The dress didn't quite fit Mary Ann's petite frame and she tugged at the material clinging to her hips, smoothing it down and then loosening it up so that she could walk better. He couldn't help but smile as he realised what she reminded him of- a baby penguin waddling out from under its mother for the very first time, its little unformed wings flapping awkwardly at its sides. He tried to hide his smile by coughing quietly, and he glanced over at Gilligan to see what the First Mate was making of this spectacle.

Gilligan's ocean blue eyes almost popped out of his head. Then they too, travelled up and down Mary Ann's shimmering, sequin wrapped body. He took in her carefully coiffed hairdo- the chocolate brown tresses piled up on top of her head with a few loose strands falling seductively around her neck and shoulders. He blinked at the amount of makeup she was wearing. Her eyes were dark and smoky and her hazel brown irises seemed to jump out at him. Her lips were glossy and wet looking, coated in Ginger's peach lipstick. Her cheeks looked rosy red, not from the sun but from something she was wearing, something that made them the colour of ripe apples.

The Professor coughed again and motioned for Gilligan to close his mouth, which the First Mate did with an audible click.

Mary Ann teetered towards them and instinctively the Professor took a step towards her in case she fell. She lifted her hand to ward him away.

"I'm all right," she said, breathily. "I can do this."

Gilligan cocked his head to one side. "Are we having a costume party?" he asked. "'Cause if we are, I sure wish I'd been told. I still have my Charlie Chaplin outfit and..."

The Professor coughed louder this time, and Mary Ann stopped dead in her tracks, save for a little sideways wobble which she managed to correct before her centre of gravity shifted past the point of no return.

"No, Gilligan, we're not having a costume party," she replied, trying not to sound too offended. "I just thought it would be nice to dress up for a change. Don't you like my new look?"

Gilligan's eyes widened. "S-sure," he stammered, caught unaware by the question which seemed to be directed solely at him. "But- in the middle of the day?"

"Why not in the middle of the day?" Mary Ann looked from one man to the other through her smoky, mascaraed eyelashes. "Is there something wrong with that?"

Gilligan made a bird like movement with his head that was neither a nod or a shake, but a bit of both. The Professor opened his mouth to say something but then thought better of it and stroked his chin instead.

"I'm tired of looking like a tomboy," Mary Ann continued. "I just wanted to be pretty for once in my life." She lifted her chin and wobbled on her heels and the Professor put his hand out but she brushed him off again.

"You're pretty," Gilligan blurted, suddenly. "I mean, you're pretty without all that makeup and stuff." He waved his hand up and down in the general direction of Mary Ann's body.

After an awkward moment's silence, the Professor nodded in silent agreement.

Mary Ann teetered sideways and finally put her hand out to steady herself against the edge of the table. "_Now_ you tell me," she muttered.

Gilligan exchanged a look with the Professor. "Mary Ann, I don't know how to put it, but... we're _really_ not used to seeing you like this. Are you sure you're not having a breakdown or something?"

The Professor closed his eyes and put his hand over his face.

Mary Ann's voice rose a notch. "No, I am _not_ having a breakdown, Gilligan! I'm just tired of Ginger being the beautiful one. She turns heads all the time. I only turn heads when I've got food in my hands." She glared directly at the young sailor through her darkened eyelids and he blinked back at her like a confused owl.

The Professor cleared his throat and patted Gilligan on the arm. "You carry on here, Gilligan. I just remembered something I needed to do in the hut."

"I'll come with you," said Gilligan, but was stopped by a firm hand in the middle of his chest which he looked down at in surprise.

"No," the Professor said, forcefully. "You stay here and finish what we were doing. and, er... perhaps Mary Ann would like to help you."

Mary Ann watched forlornly as the flustered man of science made a beeline for the huts without looking back, and then she turned to Gilligan.

"Was he sweating?"

"Looks like it," Gilligan nodded.

"Gee. I was hoping to turn heads, not stomachs," she pouted, eliciting a giggle from Gilligan which he quickly stifled with his hand.

Mary Ann cast her eyes down the length of her sequinned body. Her feet were already aching and her toes throbbed rhythmically inside the tight plastic casing of the high heeled shoes.

"Do you really think I look prettier without all this?" she asked, tentatively.

Gilligan bit the inside of his cheek and nodded, his head bouncing quickly up and down as though on a spring.

"No wonder you thought we were having a costume party," she sighed. "I must look like Bozo the clown."

"No you don't, you look like the lady who helps the knife thrower," Gilligan piped up, before frowning and looking down at the boxes on the table. "Or something."

"'The lady who helps the knife thrower'?"

"Yeah, you know. Or the lady who gets sawn in half." Gilligan's face brightened and he gave her a toothy grin. "The beautiful assistant. Except with maybe a little too much makeup on."

Mary Ann touched her lower lip with her forefinger. "Maybe we did lay it on a little thick," she murmured.

"We?"

She nodded. "Ginger and I. I asked her to make me beautiful. I don't know why, really. I should have known it wouldn't make any difference."

Gilligan fiddled with a can of beans, picking at the label with his thumbnail. "Any difference to what?"

"To whether a certain person noticed me or not." Mary Ann picked at her eyelashes which were beginning to stick together from the amount of mascara she was wearing.

Gilligan peeled a strip of label from the can and rolled it between his thumb and finger. He stared at the tiny piece of paper for a few moments before speaking again. When he did, his voice was quietly casual, as though trying his hardest to sound indifferent.

"You mean the Professor?"

Mary Ann tried looking him straight in the eye, but he wouldn't meet her gaze. "No, not the Professor."

Gilligan smiled shyly. "The Skipper?"

Mary Ann rolled her eyes. "No! Not the Skipper, and not Mr. Howell, either. Think, Gilligan!"

Gilligan grinned. "You're asking me to think?"

The grin on Gilligan's face was so cheeky that Mary Ann couldn't help breaking into a huge smile. Ignoring the fact that her glossy upper lip stuck briefly to her teeth, she smiled at Gilligan and felt the spark that jumped between them, the spark she'd felt before so many times, but didn't think he even knew was there- until this very moment.

"You, silly," she said at last. "_You_."

"Me?" he repeated.

"Is there an echo in here?"

"Yeah, it bounces off the volcano," Gilligan retorted.

Mary Ann sidled over to Gilligan and fluttered her thickened eyelashes at him. "I wanted _you_ to notice me, Gilligan."

Gilligan looked down at her, trying to avert his gaze away from the plunging neckline of her altered gown.

"I wanted you to look at me the way the Professor looks at Ginger. Don't think it's escaped me. I see the way those two act when they're around each other. I guess I thought that if I dressed more seductively it might ... I don't know... _jump start_ your feelings."

Gilligan swallowed and tore another strip from the can of beans.

"If you take all the labels off, people won't know what's inside," Mary Ann said, briefly forgetting that she was meant to be a seductress. "We'll end up eating mango and lima bean pie instead of apricot."

"Sorry," Gilligan muttered. He dropped the can as though it were full of molten lava.

Mary Ann sighed. "Oh, I guess it's no use. No matter what I wear you'll never see me as more than a friend. I don't know why I went to all the trouble of trying to look nice."

She was about to turn away and totter back towards the girls' hut when suddenly, without a word of warning, Gilligan stepped forward, took her face in both hands and brought his mouth down hard against hers. Mary Ann squeaked in surprise as she felt his lips slide over her thick coating of lip gloss as he kissed her for what seemed like an eternity. His fingers tangled in her hair as he sent tremors and tingles all through her, making her tired toes come alive inside her shoes. She clutched at the front of his rugby shirt, rucking it up over his chest. Her mouth opened under his, hoping for more, but just as she thought she might faint from excitement, Gilligan broke away and stood back, his face flushed and his pupils dilated.

They gazed glassily at each other for almost a full minute before Mary Ann spoke, her voice cracking.

"Gilligan," she uttered, breathlessly. "What just happened?"

"I didn't know any other way to shut you up," he panted.

Mary Ann stared at him in wide-eyed wonder. "You don't kiss someone like that unless you mean it."

"Yeah, well... maybe I meant it." Gilligan dabbed at the lip gloss coating his mouth and examined his fingertips. "Maybe I would have gotten around to telling you some day. But since you were so determined..."

"No one wants to wait forever," Mary Ann said, gently.

"You know what I'm like."

"Yes, you're infuriating."

Gilligan spread his hands wide. "Mary Ann, I'm _me._ I'm just Gilligan. I'll always be just Gilligan. Even if I told you how much I liked you, I'd still only be just Gilligan. I'm never gonna change. Even if we fell in love, got married and had kids, I'd still be just Gilligan. Don't you think you could do better for yourself?"

Mary Ann stared at him in shock. "What do you mean, 'do better for myself'? Better than you?" She put her hand on his arm and gazed at him imploringly. "Gilligan... listen to me, and don't interrupt. There is _no one_ better than you. Not since the day I set foot aboard the Minnow and saw your smiling face for the first time. Heavens, couldn't you see I only had eyes for you? I suppose not, since Mr. Howell had you back and forth to the galley for refills every five minutes. But it's true. I fell in love with you right there and then. I wish I didn't have to be so direct about it, but since you're useless at picking up hints, I had to pull out all the stops to get you to notice me, and this is the result. I made myself look like Bozo the clown to try and get your attention."

Gilligan bit his lip and scratched his fingernail along the edge of the table. "I'm sorry, Mary Ann. I do like you- really, I do. I like you as you are, without all that goop, and without Ginger's clothes, and without shoes that you can't even walk in." He looked at her beseechingly. "I thought you could tell."

Mary Ann sighed. "I guess I was too busy feeling sorry for myself."

"I guess maybe offering you my best comic book isn't really the same as saying 'I love you'."

Mary Ann smiled. "Maybe it is, and maybe I should have realised that. Because I have to admit, that is a very Gilligan thing to do."

"'_Metal Man Meets Hercules_," Gilligan said, glancing shyly at her. "I wouldn't even lend that one to the Skipper."

Mary Ann laughed, and wrapped her arms around him in a tight hug. "This makeup is making me hot," she said, her voice muffled against his shirt. "Or maybe it's you making me hot. In any case, I need a shower to cool down, and I need to get back into my own clothes. I need to be just Mary Ann again."

"Just Mary Ann is good enough for me," said Gilligan, "as long as just Gilligan is good enough for you."

"He's _more_ than good enough," said Mary Ann, her eyes twinkling up at him. "He's everything."

...

"Yes!" cried Ginger from the shadows of the girls' hut. "I did it!"

The Professor smirked at the triumphant movie star in amusement. "_You_ did it?"

"Yes! I made her beautiful and I made Gilligan fall in love with her! Behold the magic of Ginger Grant!"

The Professor folded his arms like a sceptical school teacher and chuckled. "You don't really believe that, do you, Ginger?"

Ginger laughed and shook her head. "No, of course I don't. But she was determined to be beautiful, so I plastered that makeup on thick to show her how ridiculous she was being."

"Still, it did get Gilligan to confess his feelings, if that kiss was anything to go by."

Ginger smiled at the Professor in a way that made his heart do somersaults. "It certainly was quite a kiss, wasn't it? Something tells me our First Mate may not be as innocent as he pretends to be!"

The Professor glanced out of the window to see Mary Ann rubbing makeup off her face with Gilligan's handkerchief. "They really do make a delightful couple," he smiled. "I could tell from the beginning how much she liked him, how long she's waited for him to come around."

Ginger stood next to him at the window and slipped her arm around his waist. "I hope now she realises she was beautiful enough already, just as she was. Mary Ann Summers from Kansas, with her little shorts and pigtails. The island would be a duller place without her, that's for sure."

The Professor turned and whispered his lips through Ginger's hair. "It would be a duller place without you too, my dear," he murmured, throatily.

"Oh, Professor, you do say the sweetest things," Ginger laughed, and turned her face towards him for a kiss.

END


End file.
